Nationwide Children's Hospital
A nonprofit pediatric academic medical center and hospital system headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
Nationwide Children's Hospital is a nonprofit pediatric academic medical center in Columbus, Ohio, serving infants, children, adolescents, young adults, and, in selected circumstances, adults who require specialized pediatric care. Formerly known as Children's Hospital of Columbus and Columbus Children's Hospital, it combines inpatient and outpatient care, emergency and trauma services, research, medical education, and community-based pediatric programs. The hospital is affiliated with The Ohio State University College of Medicine and works closely with Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The institution traces its history to 1892, when Children's Hospital of Columbus opened with nine beds. Its capacity expanded repeatedly, including a move to a larger facility opened in 1924. Over the twentieth century, the hospital added physical rehabilitation, neonatal intensive care, transplant medicine, specialty training, research infrastructure, and community clinics. A kidney transplant performed in 1966 was identified as the first successful kidney transplant in central Ohio, while later programs expanded into lung, heart, and combined heart-lung transplantation. Nationwide Children's has developed into a comprehensive pediatric referral system. Its main campus offers more than 100 specialties and subspecialties, supported by outpatient care centers, primary-care locations, urgent-care sites, Close To Home Centers, homecare services, autism services, sports medicine, orthopedics, laboratories, pharmacies, and surgical programs. The hospital also operates an ACS-verified Level I pediatric trauma center, one of four such centers in Ohio. Its family-centered-care model emphasizes the health of the child within the family and community rather than treating the patient in isolation. Research is a central part of the institution's identity. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's conducts work in areas including gene therapy, childhood cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, genomic medicine, vaccines and immunity, injury prevention, perinatal medicine, microbial pathogenesis, and mathematical medicine. The institute grew from research activities established after World War II and from the Children's Hospital Investigative Laboratory Division, later reorganized as the Children's Hospital Research Foundation and Columbus Children's Research Institute. Researcher Jerry Mendell led an early clinical trial of gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy at the institution. As a teaching hospital, Nationwide Children's houses the Ohio State Department of Pediatrics and supports pediatric residencies, combined internal-medicine and pediatrics training, pediatric surgery and neurology programs, pharmacy and genetics training, and numerous fellowships. The institution's modern campus expansion included a 12-story main hospital opened in 2012 and additional research facilities. In 2007, a major gift from the Nationwide Foundation led to the hospital adopting its current name. The naming connected the hospital with Nationwide, the Columbus-based insurance group, while the hospital continued to operate as a nonprofit healthcare organization rather than as a publicly traded company. Nationwide Children's has received repeated national recognition, including placement among America's Best Children's Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. In 2023 it was ranked sixth overall among U.S. children's hospitals and was reported to have ranked nationally in all ten specialties evaluated by that publication for a decade. Its public profile also includes criticism over a proposed commercial naming arrangement for its emergency department and involvement in litigation following the death of a spectator treated after an NHL game incident. These episodes did not end the hospital's operations, and the institution remains an active pediatric provider, research center, and training organization.
History
Nationwide Children's Hospital began in 1892 as Children's Hospital of Columbus, with nine beds and a mission focused on pediatric patients. Early growth quickly increased capacity to fifteen beds. A new hospital project was initiated in the early 1920s: its cornerstone was laid in 1922, and the replacement facility opened in 1924 with room for 75 patients and an expansion plan that ultimately supported as many as 300 beds. In 1931, the hospital began accepting private patients, charging four dollars per week according to the historical account in the supplied reference. The institution expanded its clinical scope during the mid-twentieth century. Construction of the Sellers Wing began in 1954 to provide physical therapy and care for children affected by polio. In 1965, federal support helped establish Children & Youth Clinics across Columbus. As government funding declined, the hospital continued supporting the clinics, which later developed into the Close To Home network. A separate neonatal intensive-care service opened in 1966, and the same year the hospital performed what it describes in the reference material as central Ohio's first successful kidney transplant. Research developed in parallel with clinical services. Postwar investigators studied infectious disease, including epidemic diarrhea associated with E. coli and histoplasmosis. The Children's Hospital Investigative Laboratory Division was created in the 1950s, followed by Ross Hall, the hospital's first medical science research building, in 1961. The Children's Hospital Research Foundation was incorporated in 1964, and research expenditures exceeded one million dollars in 1966. The Wexner Center for Pediatric Research opened in 1987. In 2003, the foundation and research operations were reorganized and renamed the Columbus Children's Research Institute; in 2007, it became The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Medical education also became a defining institutional function. Pediatric residency training began in 1931, and pediatric teaching moved from Starling Loving Hospital to Children's Hospital in 1937. The hospital and Ohio State University progressively integrated their clinical and academic roles, with the Ohio State Department of Pediatrics becoming closely associated with the hospital. Additional programs developed in pediatric pathology, dentistry, internal medicine-pediatrics, neonatology, hematology-oncology, nephrology, ophthalmology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and pediatric orthopedics. The Ann Isaly Wolfe Education Building opened in 1992 after a construction project begun in 1990. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nationwide Children's broadened its regional partnerships and specialty network. In 1999, it and OhioHealth announced a relationship involving neonatal special-care and intensive-care units at several OhioHealth hospitals, later extending collaboration in pediatric emergency care. The hospital added transplant capabilities, including a first lung transplant in 2005 and a complex heart and double-lung transplant in 2006. A major $50 million Nationwide Foundation gift announced in 2007 supported safety, injury prevention, neonatal intensive care, and cardiac services; the institution then changed its name from Columbus Children's Hospital to Nationwide Children's Hospital. A substantial capital program followed. A $80 million clinical expansion and renovation program began in 2003. The hospital opened a 12-story, roughly 750,000-square-foot main hospital on June 20, 2012, while also developing Research III, a six-story research building that added approximately 225,000 square feet. The expansion included cardiovascular and pulmonary research facilities, hybrid suites, mathematical medicine space, and a new central energy plant designed using green-building principles. Today, Nationwide Children's operates a large pediatric academic health system centered on its Columbus campus and a network of outpatient facilities. Its services include emergency medicine, trauma, primary care, urgent care, surgery, intensive care, transplant medicine, cancer care, autism services, orthopedics, homecare, and more than 100 specialty and subspecialty programs. The hospital's research portfolio includes gene therapy, childhood cancer, genomic medicine, injury prevention, vaccines, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, and perinatal research. Its national profile has been reinforced by repeated U.S. News & World Report recognition, including a sixth-place overall ranking among American children's hospitals in 2023.
- 2023
Nationwide recognition in pediatric rankings
[1]U.S. News & World Report ranked the hospital sixth overall among American children's hospitals and nationally recognized all ten evaluated specialties.
- 2012
New main hospital opens
[1]A 12-story main hospital opened as the centerpiece of a major campus redevelopment.
- 2007
Hospital adopts the Nationwide Children's name
[1]Following a major Nationwide Foundation gift, Columbus Children's Hospital was renamed Nationwide Children's Hospital.
- 2005
First lung transplant at the hospital
[1]The institution performed its first lung transplant on a young adult patient with cystic fibrosis.
- 1987
Wexner Center for Pediatric Research opens
[1]A new research facility strengthened the hospital's organized pediatric investigation program.
- 1966
Kidney transplant and neonatal intensive care milestones
[1]The hospital performed a successful kidney transplant identified as the first in central Ohio and opened a dedicated neonatal intensive-care service.
- 1924
New hospital opens
[1]The new facility opened with capacity for 75 patients and expansion potential to 150 beds and ultimately more.
- 1922
Cornerstone laid for a larger hospital
[1]Construction began on a replacement facility designed for substantial future expansion.
- 1892
Children's Hospital of Columbus opens
[1]The predecessor institution opened in Columbus with nine beds.
Products and positioning
A nationally recognized, family-centered pediatric academic health system combining complex clinical care, trauma services, research, education, and community access.
Clinical services · 1892
Pediatric acute and specialty care
The hospital provides inpatient and outpatient care across a broad pediatric specialty portfolio for patients from infancy through young adulthood. Services include cardiology, oncology, neurology, gastroenterology, nephrology, pulmonology, surgery, rehabilitation, infectious disease, and other complex-care disciplines.
Emergency medicine
Pediatric emergency and trauma care
Nationwide Children's operates an ACS-verified Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and a dedicated pediatric emergency service. Its wider network also includes urgent-care locations for illnesses and injuries that do not require treatment in the main emergency department.
Outpatient care · 1965
Close To Home network
Close To Home Centers extend diagnostic, therapeutic, and in selected locations urgent-care services beyond the main Columbus campus. They form part of the hospital's community-access strategy and evolved from Children & Youth Clinics established with public support in the 1960s.
Transplant medicine · 1966
Pediatric transplant programs
The institution has developed kidney, lung, heart, and combined heart-lung transplant capabilities. Historical milestones include a central Ohio kidney-transplant success in 1966, the first hospital lung transplant in 2005, and a complex heart and double-lung transplant in 2006.
Research · 2007
The Research Institute
The Research Institute conducts pediatric biomedical and clinical research in gene therapy, childhood cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, genomic medicine, injury prevention, vaccines, immunity, perinatal medicine, microbial pathogenesis, and mathematical medicine.
Controversies
2008
Proposed Abercrombie & Fitch emergency-department naming
A proposal to name the emergency department and trauma center after Abercrombie & Fitch in connection with a $10 million donation prompted criticism from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, physicians, and child-advocacy groups. Critics argued that a pediatric emergency facility should not promote a retailer whose youth-oriented marketing had generated controversy.
2002
Litigation following the death of hockey spectator Brittanie Cecil
The family of Brittanie Cecil, who died after being struck by a deflected puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game, sued the team, the NHL, and Nationwide Children's Hospital over alleged failure to detect a torn artery. The supplied reference does not specify the final legal disposition.
Marketing campaigns
- 2007Nationwide Foundation pediatric-care investment
United States · Central Ohio
The Nationwide Foundation provided a $50 million gift supporting child safety and injury prevention, neonatal intensive care, and the heart center. The donation was associated with the hospital's renaming as Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Outcome. Supported clinical, safety, and research priorities and contributed to the institution's current brand identity.
Brand decisions
2012
Open expanded main campusStrategyBackground
The hospital pursued a large facilities program to expand clinical capacity, research space, and modern pediatric infrastructure.
Action taken
It opened a new 12-story main hospital and continued development of the Research III facility.
Aftermath
The expansion strengthened the Columbus campus as a regional referral, teaching, trauma, and research center.
2007
Adopt the Nationwide Children's Hospital brandStrategyBackground
A large Nationwide Foundation donation supported several strategic clinical and safety priorities at the Columbus pediatric hospital.
Action taken
The institution changed its name from Columbus Children's Hospital to Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Aftermath
The new name became the hospital's principal public identity while the organization continued operating as a nonprofit pediatric academic medical center.
Nationwide Foundation gift. $50 million (2007)
Recent events
Rev1 Ventures announces $15 million life sciences fund[3]
Reported:
Rev1 Ventures announced the launch of its second life sciences fund, the $15 million Rev1 Catalyst Fund II, with investment from The Ohio State University, Nationwide Children's Hospital and Rev1.
Sources3 sources
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